Lisa Mednick Powell, Returns with First Album in 16 Years, “Blue Book”
FOLK/COUNTRY/BLUES SINGER-SONGWRITER-MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST, LISA MEDNICK POWELL, RETURNS WITH “BLUE BOOK”, HER FIRST ALBUM IN 16 YEARS When asked about working with singer/songwriter/musician Lisa Mednick Powell on his 1999 album Crusades Of The Restless Knights, acclaimed singer/songwriter Ray Wylie Hubbard told “No Depression”, “Her songs are just cool and important. “I really respect her writing.” Powell’s debut solo album, Artifacts Of Love, which was released in 1994, earned media praise as “a dark, swirling gumbo” (Utne Reader), “richly evocative” (Austin-American Statesman) and “…artful songcraft…” (Rolling Stone). Her follow up album, Semaphore, was released eight years later in 2002 and was described by “Amazon.com”as “…some of the prickliest, most emotionally unsettling material this side of Lucinda Williams. Her vocal lilt…belies the music’s dark thematic undertow, through songs that evoke life’s fragility and finitude.” Now, sixteen years later, she is proud to announce the official release of her self-produced third solo album, “Blue Book. Although recorded recently, Powell says that the songs on the new record are connected to all of the songs on her previous albums and the main concepts stay the same across decades. “I did take my time releasing another album after ‘Semaphore’, but the passage of sixteen years does not feel as long to me as it might seem to others. In the interim, I have kept busy! In addition to writing music, I earned a Master’s degree at the State University of New York. Someone once told me ‘you move through the world more slowly than other people.’ I am not sure what he meant, but I think he was right.” Recorded in the California High Desert and in New Orleans with husband bassist Kip Powell, and a few old talented friends including Tommy Malone, Victoria Williams, Alison Young, Danny Frankel, and Greg Leisz, “Blue Book” is a musical throwback of sorts — a complete album experience marked by quiet grace, thoughtful craft and performance, and impressionistic lyrics. Powell says, “Making ‘Blue Book’ was certainly a labor of love-and not only because my wonderful husband Kip played bass and co-wrote some of the material. In 2014, I started going back to New Orleans and working with brilliant musicians (people who also happen to be dear friends) I knew from my time there in the late 80s. While “Artifacts of Love” was recorded and mixed all in one session at a studio in Austin, “Blue Book” was recorded a few songs at a time in various studios in various geographical locations. I was honored to have these musicians work with me. All of them did great work in supporting the songs. I have always tried to record songs in such a way that they evoke the same emotion with or without the lyrics. The music should carry emotion just as much as words do. Everyone who worked on this album really shared that concept.” One of the highlights of “Blue Book” is the track “To The Wilderness”. “I started the song a long time ago and finally finished it when Continue reading Lisa Mednick Powell, Returns with First Album in 16 Years, “Blue Book”
